I may write a blog titled Family Travels on a Budget. Sometimes “budget” isn’t in the vacation savings. Sometimes “budget” means saving on other spending to make that dream vacation happen. Curious? Read on…
5 easy tips to save for vacation
1. Shop ebates
Save money on the things you buy anyway using ebates. The ebates site is simple to use.
- • Create an account. (Please sign up with this link — thanks!)
- • Log into this account to shop retailers online.
- • Get cash back either through paypal or with a “big fat check”.
- • Isn’t that great? You save on the things you would purchase anyway!
2. Consolidate errands
We all have errands to run. With gas prices on the rise, the more we run back and forth, the more expensive those errands get. In theory, consolidating errands makes a lot of sense. But if you are anything like me (that means absent-minded and/or disorganized), keeping track of all those errands can be tough. I’ve really figured out a system that works. It’s easy!
- 1. Keep a basket near the car keys to hold items that you need to return to the store. Keep the items in their bag with the receipt. When heading to a particular area, grab the returns and take them along.
- 2. Sticky notes are a girl’s best friend! I keep a running list for the errands I need to run in different parts of town. When I need to head to Lowe’s for gardening supplies (I pretend to be a gardener every spring), I head to the post office for stamps, and the grocery store for bread and milk. I just pull the sticky note for that area and get it all done at once.
- 3. Resist the splurge! (This is the hard one for me). You might want to make a late night ice cream run, but unless Dairy Queen is right around the corner, the gas to get there and back will more than double the cost of that sundae! Seriously — you would not believe how many calories did NOT make it to my hips because of this simple strategy… though that’s a savings of another kind. 🙂
3. Adjust the thermostat
Adjust your thermostat by one degree — yes, one little degree — and save 3% on monthly energy costs. In the summer, move the temperature up just one degree so the a/c runs a bit less. In the winter, turn the temp down by that same amount and save there too. Our summer electric bill runs about $150/month. Turning the temperature up one degree equals a $4.50 savings. Over the course of a year, that’s $54 saved!
4. Eat peanut butter
When we were saving for our trip to China (and our daughter Ellie), we cut back on lots of things, including grocery expenses. Back then, we ate peanut butter, lots and lots of peanut butter. We mixed it up with different jelly and even topped it with chocolate chips, but I can honestly say we got sick of peanut butter that year. The people at PBCrave have come out with four fun peanut butter flavors to enjoy: Cookie Nookie, Coco Bananas, Choco Choco and Razzle Dazzle. Right now, PBCrave is giving $100 cash to one lucky winner. No purchase necessary. And, if you win, you’re $100 closer to that dream vacation!!!
5. Shop grocery store sales
Other than ebates, our biggest money saver is shopping grocery store sales. We don’t get a Sunday paper, so we signed up for the grocery store circulars by email. When it arrives, we look at the items on sale and plan our weekly menu around those sales. It helps in two ways — we get some variety into the menu AND we save money! We also stock up on non-perishables when they are discounted. There are shopping saver websites out there that you can join to make this an even easier way to save. Generally, we save 25-40% on groceries each week just shopping store sales! With two teens and a tween in the house, that’s a hefty amount for not much time invested.
How do you save for vacation?
I learned many of these 5 easy tips to save for vacation from friends far and near. Please share your favorite savings tip with us either in the comments here or on my Facebook page so we all can learn from each other!
This post contains a link to my ebates affiliate site For more information see my disclosure policy.
Just what I need before going for a long trip. Great tips!
I hope the tips help. Where is your favorite place to travel?
Awesome tips! I love using Ebates!
Me too. I forgot to use it when shopping online at first. Now it’s second nature — and that big fat check always makes me smile. 🙂
great tips and awesome giveaway.. thanks for sharing..
Thanks, Rocky! Good luck with the giveaway.
I bet my daughter would love that razzle dazzle PB, sounds tasty!
My daughter loves the chocolate peanut butter. I think back to my childhood when peanut butter decisions involved strawberry or grape jelly. Today, so much more pressure. LOL
Great giveaway! Thanks! We are obsessed with peanut butter here.
Do you have a favorite flavor? I’m a fan of salted caramel with peanut butter… though that’s not a PB Crave flavor. Yet.
I usually book speaking engagements in places I want to go anyway so my family gets paid to vacation. It is the best strategy ever LOL
NICE! I try to take the family when I’m on a writing assignment. Sometimes, though, I just want to vacation. No deadlines. No brain work. 🙂
SUPER tips–Eating all the great flavors of PB from PBCrave I don’t think our family would get sick of PBJ either–who am I kidding two years ago all my daughter asked for for Christmas was Peanut Butter!! WE can NEVER get sick of it!!!
HAHA!!! Pam, if they had PBCrave back when we were going to China, maybe I wouldn’t have gotten tired of it either. UGH — plain old peanut butter. Never again. 🙂
Those are all awesome tips. I have to start saving for a vacation.
Thanks, Michelle. I hope they help. Nothing beats a vacation paid in full BEFORE travel. 🙂
Great hints. This chick LOVES peanut butter and that gorgeous jumping girl in picture. GG
That gorgeous jumping girl is loads of fun — and she likes her peanut butter too! And you, of course…. more than peanut butter!
These are aweosme tips! thank you for sharing. We usually plan ahead then put a huge photo of our dream place to visit next to a piggy bank. This way we are motivated – even just a penny to save – every single day. For our America travel, we saved for about two years.
Wow Kero! You’re disciplined…. a woman after my own budget-planning heart! Isn’t it nice traveling knowing you won’t come home to a huge credit card bill?
These are so great tips! I may add- more pasta, more coupons and more home- made meals 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
Great addition. Thanks!!!! We do the pasta thing to stretch the budget (and add a can or two of white beans for cheap protein too — so important with teen boys)!